mardi 18 août 2009

Municipal politics in Montreal

The former Justice John Gomery (77 years) loves the attention from the public and he sometimes plays the rock star ....

He began his stardom at hearings on the federal sponsorship in 2004 when he was communicating directly with media representatives, which is generally not the way judges do. His work as chairman of the Commission of Inquiry was very effective because it helped clean up a system of government sponsorship poorly managed, which had no place but the Commission would have gained credibility if the judge had been a little more humble and rear stage rather than before the microphones and cameras of the media.

Since he is retired, the former magistrate has not lost his taste for the limelight and I was not surprised to see him on television offering a visit on his little farm to a journalist in decoration.However I was astounded when he said, as would have done a historical figure: "You see, it was before this window that I sat down to write the report of the Committee on sponsorship ..."

Now he hope to inspire another major cleaning but this time in the Montreal municipal politics. To do this, he participates in as Director of Finance of the election campaign for mayor of Montreal and he joined one of the parties in contention. He says that he want to make more democratic the process of financing municipal politics. His goal is very laudable, except that when one learns that his daughter is a candidate for the party in question, one tends to conclude that he wants to draw public attention and help her daughter with his notoriety. I would like to congratulate Judge Gomery for his excellent work and initiatives, but I cannot because his pride makes me doubt of his real intention...

What are my predictions for the next municipal election in Montreal?

With the crisis of festivals ... who knows how will escape the current Mayor Gérald Tremblay. But the Grand Prix F1 should be confirmed by September for the next season. If this issue occurs, Mayor Tremblay will profit from a high profile in the media ...

In my opinion, none of the opponents to the mayor of Montreal would be better than Tremblay if they were in office. One option would have been the return of the former mayor Pierre Bourque, but he refused to came back . Too bad because it was a great mayor!